ABOUT ME

Feder and me (Ellen) will be travelling around Italy this summer: that’s why we made this profile together. We will each give you a short introduction of ourselves.

Ellen:
People descripe me as very curious, enthusiastic, open-minded, chaotic, and creative. I like exchanging thoughts and experiences with other people, long discussions about all kind of subjects (feminism, ecology, literature, art, education, etc.), and listening to stories of other travelers. I like walking barefoot in forests, swimming in lakes, and I adore old libraries – I could spend hours, or even days, in them. I love experimental cooking, and trying out all kind of food from different cultures (meat not included: I’m a pescotarian).
I studied art for three years (in highschool), and at the moment I’m at the end of my first year of philosophy at the university of Antwerp; after the summer I will continue my studies in Brussels. It almost seems useless to mention that I love travelling – I guess that’s a thing everyone on this website has in common. Last summer I went for a month and a half to Nepal, where I have been trekking for three weeks (Annapurna-circuit), which was a great experience: the nature was overwhelmingly beautiful. After that I stayed in Pokhara and Kathmandu for a while, where I met the most amazing people. At the moment I’m in Uppsala (Sweden), visiting my friend Jasmina, one of those fantastic people I met in Nepal.

Feder:
(A description will be here soon.)

Interests

Ellen:
- Literature: Toni Morisson, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Gerard Reve, Willem Elsschot, Jonathan Safran Four, Julia Franck, Willem Frederik Hermans, Franz Kafka, Yann Martel, Peter Verhelst, Gustave Flaubert, etc.

- Music: I like classical music a lot, but I also like blues, jazz, folk, worldmusic, … Some musicians I like: Ravi Shankar, Wim Mertens, Ani DiFranco, the Dresden Dolls, Patti Smith, Georges Brassens, Frank Zappa, Creedance Clearwater Revival, the Doors, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Camille Saint-Saëns, Beethoven, Kaki King, Leonard Cohen, Schubert, Muddy Waters, Paganini, Tracy Chapman, Vivaldi, Manuel Infante, Paganini, Janis Joplin, Jeanne Lee, etc.

- Film: Some directors whose movies I like a lot: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Fellini, Antonioni, Catherine Breillat, and Chantal Akerman. A few movies I love: Frida, Temple Grandin, La Meglio Gioventù, Aimée & Jaguar, Shortbus, A woman under influence,

- Philosophy: I’m very interested in ‘feminist philosophy’, especially in the influence of the so called ‘philosophical imaginary’ (Michèle Le Doeuff), and the impact of gendermetaphors in philosophical texts (Geneviève Lloyd, Eva Feder Kittay, Phillis Rooney). I’m also very interested in aesthetics, philosophy of education, philosophical analysis of sexuality/pornography, queer theory, and philosophy of language.

- Art: Some artists I like: Frida Kahlo, Egon Schiele, Rene Magritte, Amedeo Modigliani, Hieronymus Bosch, James Ensor, Diane Arbus, Käthe Kollwitz, Séraphine Louis, Friederich Hundertwasser, Floris Jespers, Ernst Ludwig Kirschner, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Sam Dillemans, Pablo Picasso, etc.

Other interests: feminism, theatre, ecology, anthropology, sociology,and I could continue like that.

Feder:
(....)

• arts
• literature
• education
• womens rights
• dining
• cooking
• walking
• movies
• traveling
• music
• classical music
• jazz
• blues
• swimming
• anthropology
• ecology
• teaching
• sociology
• lakes

Countries I’ve Visited

Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium